Fluid-motor.



W. P. ESPY.

FLUID MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 9, 1913. 1,113,155, Patented 0ct.6,1914.

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WILLIAM 1. ESPY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

FLUID-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 6, 1914.

Application filed July 9, 1913. Serial No. 778,153.

To all whom it may concern r Be it known that I, IVILLIAM P. EsPY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county ofClark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and use I fulImprovements in Fluid-Motors, of which the following is aspecificatiomreference be ing had therein to the accompanying drawmg.

This invention relates to fluid motors and the object of the inventionis to provide a motor in which the valves can be reversed without theuse of springs; and in which the valve-shifting device will be simple inits construction and operation, and will require no delicate adjustmentsor fine divisions of pressure, and which will be positive in its action.

To this end it is also an object of the invention to provide avalve-shifting device which will be acted upon by the direct pressure ofthe incoming fluid without the necessity of confining the fluid in anymanner.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view ofa motor embodying my invention taken through the inlet valve chamber;and Fig. 2 is a vertical,

sectional view taken on the line m ac-of Fig. l. In these drawings Ihave illustrated one embodiment of my invention and have shown the sameas appliedto an oscillating motor of a well known construction. Thismotor comprises a body portion consisting of a cylinder 1 and-cylinderheads 2 and 3.

Centrally mounted within the cylinder is a motor shaft 4 which ispreferably journaled in the cylinder heads and provided with suitablestufling boxes; This motor shaft carries a wing piston 5 which operatesin the cylinder in the usual manner and cooperates with an abutment orpartition 6 to divide the cylinder into two compartments. In this typeof motor the fluid is sometimes admitted through the abutment orpartition 6 and sometimes through the motor shaft and piston. In thepresent in stance I have utilized the former method and have providedthe abutment with two valve chambers, the lowermost of which, as shownat 7, constitutes the exhaust valve chamber, communicates with theexhaust pipe 8 and has. mounted therein a double puppet exhaust valve 9which controls the communication of the exhaust chamber with the twocompartments of the cylinder so as to exhaust the water alternately onopposite sides of the piston. The upper valve chainber'formed in theabutment, as indicated at 10, comprises an inlet chamber and communicates with the interior of'the cylinder on both sides of thepistonby the usual ports I which are controlled by the valve members 11and 12 of a double puppet valve. This chamber communicates by means of aport 13 with an inlet or supply pipe 14. The inlet' port 1.3, in thepresent. form of motor, is

formed in the wall of the cylinderinstead of in one of the cylinderheads, as is the more common practice in this type of. motor. Thisarrangement, however, is an op tional one and may be varied at will. The

initial movement is imparted to the valves to unseat them by means ofprojections or fingers 15 secured to the opposite sides of unseated, bythe action of the piston, they will become balanced because when theyreach what is known as their dead-center position water will escapeequally to and from both sides of the piston and, conse quently, therewill be no further movement of the piston tocarry the valve across itsdead-center position.

The dead center position is usually the central position in which theports of both valve members will be open to exactly the same extent, butunder varying pressures and load the exact point at which the valve willbalance sometimes varies and the term central or deadcenter position asem ployed herein means the point at which the valve will balance. As isalso well known the springs which are commonly used to impart furthermovement to the valves to carrythem across their dead-center posi tionsare open to numerous objections, such I as the tendency of the springsto crystallize the shifting device was of such a character that itrequired "delicate adjustments or fine divisions of water pressure inorder to render the same operative. Inasmuch as these motors arecommonly applied to washing machines and are operated by women andothers absolutely unskilled in mechanics it is essential that thevalve-shifting mechanism shall be of such a simple, positive characterthatit cannot be easily disarranged or rendered inoperative. In otherwords, it must be .fool proof In order toproduce such a valve shiftingmeans I have provided a valveshifting device so mounted that it willnormally lie out of the path of the flu d entering the valve chamber,that is, it null 111 no way interfere-with the direct passage of thefluid to the open port leading to the inter or of the cylinder. Thisvalve shitting device is so connected with the inlet valve that theinitial movement of the inlet valve, to unquantity ofwater passing tothe rear of thedevice will exert a pressure thereon which will tend tocontinue the movement of the valve-shifting device and the valve, thuscarrying the latter across its dead-center position. .It is immaterialwhether or not the valve-shifting device completes the movement of thevalve, as after it has once crossedthe dead-center position the actionoi' the water will move it to itsseat.

This result can be accomplished in various manners, but in theparticular form of the invention here illustrated, tllGVLlVQ-Slllftlhgdevice comprises a blade or vane 16 mounted.

within the inlet valve chamber, on an axis extending transversely to theinlet valve and on that side of the inlet valve opposite the portleading from the supply pipe to the valve chamber. This vane is o't-sucha size as to substantially form a vertical partition within the chamberand is so connected with the inlet valveas to move with. it. As hereshown, the inlet valve has a reduced central portion 17 and the vane 16has a slot, as shown at 18, to slip over the reduced. portion. Thus,the-vane will lie within the groove formed by the reduced portionbetween the opposite end portions of the valve and will be caused tomove about its axis in the same direction that the valve is moved. Thewidth of the groove is sufiiciently greater than the thickness of themovement of the vane and the valve. is not necessary to the properaction of the vane to allow for the movement of the vane about its axis.When one of the valve memhers is seated that end of the vane adjacentthe inlet port 13 will lie close to or beyond the edge'of the port sothat it will be out of the path of the incoming fluid and will notinterfere with the passage of the fluid from "the port 13 to the portleading to the interior of the cylinder. That face of the vane adjacentto the port will,'in a sense,

-- form one wall of the inlet valve chamber imparted to'the valve by oneof the arms 15 on the piston 5 the vane willlikewise be moved and,inasmuch as the vane is mounted on an axis remote from the valve, thefree edge of the vane will movefaster than the valve moves. As a resultthls difference in the movements of the valve and the vane the edge ofthe vane will be carried past the center of the port 13 by the time thatthe inlet valve reaches its balanced or central position. The largerportion of the water wlll, therefore, enter the valve chamber in therear of the vane and a greater pressure will be exerted u on this sideof the vane 1 than is exerted on the forward side thereoi and thispressure will tend to continue the It valves that the exhaust valve beconnected -with the inlet valve and I have not shown such a connection,but it will be understood that such a connection may be made in thestruction and operation; that it can be men ufactured at a very lowcost; that it will require little machining and no fine adjustments; andthat its movement and operation will bev positive, thus eliminating alluncertainty of the operation of the valve.

lVliile I have shown and described the invention as applied to a'doublepuppet valve oscillatlng motor it will be understood that this type ofmotor is used for the purpose of illustration only and that theinvention can be applied tov motors of various kinds and in connectionwith valves of various types, and further, that the details of construction herein shown and described are also chosen for the purpose ofillustration and I do not wish to be limited to the construction shownand described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilledin the art.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fluid motor, the combination, with an inlet valve, of a valveshifting device having a part movable into different positionstoisubject different sides thereof to the action of the fluid, and aconnection between said valve and said valve shifting device, wherebythe initial movement of said valve in either direction will cause saidpart of said valve-shifting device to be moved into a position tosubject one side of it to the action of the fluid, and the action of thefluid on said valve-shifting device will cause a further movement ofsaid valve.

2. In a motor, the combination, witha cylinder, a piston mountedtherein, one of said parts having a valve chamber communicating with theinterior of said cylinder on both sides of said piston and having aninlet port, and connected valve members to control the communicationbetween said valve chamber and said cylinder, of a valve-shifting devicemounted in said valve chamber and arranged normally out of the path ofthe fluid entering said chamber, and a connection between saidvalve-shifting device and said valve members to cause said valveshiftingdevice to be moved into the path of the incoming fluid by the initialmovement of said valve members, whereby the action of said fluid willcause a further movement of said valve members.

3. In a motor, the combination, with a cylinder, a piston mountedtherein, one of said parts having a valve chamber communicating with theinterior of said cylinder on both sides of said piston and having aninlet port,

and connected valve members to control the communication between saidvalve chamber and said cylinder, of a vane arranged within said valvechamber and having one edge adjacent to said inlet port, means wherebythe movement of said valve will cause said vane to move at a greaterspeed than that at which said valve moves and whereby the movement ofsaid vane will impart further movement to said valve.

4:. Ina motor, the combinatiomwith a cylinder, apiston mounted therein,one of said parts having a valve chamber communicating with the interiorof said cylinder on both sides of said piston and having an inlet port,

and a valve to control the communication between said valve chamber andsaid cylinder, of a vane pivotally mounted in said valve chamber on thatside of said valve opposite said inlet port and having its free edgearranged adjacent to said inlet port, and a connection between said vaneand said valve, whereby any movement imparted to one member will impartmovement to the other member.

5. In a motor, the combination, with a part having avalve chamber, aninlet port leading to said valve chamber, two ports to permit the escapeof fluid from said valve chamber, and valve members to control the flowof fluid through said last-mentioned ports, of a valveshifting' devicepivotally mounted in said chamber and having one edge arranged adjacentto said inlet port,

and a connection between said valve-shifting device and said valvemembers, whereby the movement of said valve members will impart movementto said valve-shifting device and" the movement of said valve-shiftingdevice will impart movement to said valve mem-' bers.

6. In a motor, the combination, with a part having a valve chamber, aninlet port leading to said valve chamber, two ports to permit the escapeof fluid from said valve chamber, and connected valve members to controlthe flow of fluid through said lastmentioned ports, of a valve-shiftingdevice pivotally mounted'in said valve chamber at a point remote fromsaid inlet port and having one edge arranged adjacent to said inletport, said valve-shifting device being connected at a point between itsaxis and the free edge thereof with said valve members.

7. In a motor, the combination, with a part having a valve chamber, aninlet port leading to said valve chamber, two ports to permit the escapeof fluid from said valve chamber, and connected valve members tocontrol, the flow of fluid through said lastmentioned parts, of a vanepivotally mounted in said valve chamber and having its free edgearranged to move across said inlet port, and a connection between saidvane and said valve members whereby the initial movement of said valvemembers will impart movement to said vane and cause the latter to bemoved beyond the center of said inlet port before said valve membershave reached their central positions.

with an inlet port and ports to permit the passage of fluid therefrom,and a valve to control the flow of fluid through said lastmentionedports and having an annular groove, of a vane pivotally mounted in saidvalve chamber on that side of said valve opposite said inlet port andhaving a part adapted to enter the groove in said valve.

10. In a motor, the combination, with a casing having a chamber providedwith an inlet port, ports to permit the passage of fluid therefrom, anda valve to control the flow of fluid through said last-mentioned ports,of a vane pivotally mounted in said chamber, and a connection betweensaid chamber, and a connection between said valve and said vane. valveand said vane. 10 11. In a motor, the combination. With a In testimonywhereof, Iafiix my signature casing having a chamber provided With anin'presence of two Witnesses.

' inlet port, ports to permit the passage of NVILLIAM P. ESPY. fluidtherefrom and a valve to control the Witnesses: I flow of fluid throughsaid 1ast-mentionee1 HELEN KE NELLY, ports, of a vane movably mounted insaid X HOWARD E. MAcGREeoR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D, 0.

